UCLA UNIVERSITY RESEARCH LIBRARY
Department of Special Collections
EXHIBIT CATALOG
The Pachuco Era
by
DAN LUCKENBILL
u c: L A
U N 1 V L It S 11 Y k L S L A K C: 1 1 LIBRARY
DepartDiiiil of Spccicil (Jolhuiions
EXHIBIT CATALOG
The Pachuco Era
Catalog of an exhibit
University Research Library
September- December 1990
by
DAN LUCKENBILL
Department of Special Collections University Research Library
Utiiversity of California, Los Angeles, 1990 Copyright © September 1990 by the Regents of the University of California THE PACHUCO ERA
FOREWORD
Unique material for the study of Chicano history and Chicano art history came to the
UCLA Library at least as early as the 1930s, when it received from Miss Lucy Starr, sister of University of Chicago historian Frederick Starr, a gift of prints by the Mexican artist Jose Guadalupe Posada. The work of this artist—particularly his playful calavem [skull] imagery—was one influence on Chicano artists as they sought to create an art free of European and Anglo-American influence to express a unique heritage. Material relevant to the theme of this exhibit came to the library in 1945, when Alice McGrath turned over records of the Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee to Robert Vosper, then head, Acquisi-
tions Department. Carey McWilliams gave the library his collection of material on topics
of interest in the history of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in California. The collections have been used continually ever since. Luis Valdez has noted that reading a battered copy of Guy Endore's The Sleepy Lagoon Mystery set in motion his thoughts about what became
his play Zoot Suit. The department also has the papers of Guy Endore. The UCLA Oral
History Program, administered by this department, has further documented this period in interviews with Endore, McGrath, McWilliams, and others.
Material is regularly added in support of research in this period and all periods of
Chicano history. I am pleased to announce the acquisition, on the occasion of this exhibit,
of a print of the color photograph, Clavo, by Los Angeles Chicano artist John M. Valadez.
The department is privileged to mount The Pachiico Era in conjunction with Chicano Art: Resistance and Afjinnation (CARA), 1965-1985.
David S. Zeidberg, Head Department of Special Collections University Research Library University of California, Los Angeles THE PACHUCO ERA
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The impetus for this exhibit came from having seen the material used for so many years, but never actually to have been showcased. A class given by Visiting Professor Victor Alejandro Sorell confirmed the interest in relating Special Collections material to what promised to be a distinguished Wight Gallery exhibit, Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (CARA), 1965-1985.
I thank those who have given permission to include unique material in the exhibit and catalog: Alice McGrath, John Valadez, and Luis Valdez. Jose Montoya has given permis- sion to use his phrase "those times of the forties and early fifties" in conjunction with the exhibit. Works from CARA reproduced in this catalog are by Juan R. Fuentes and Jose Galvez.
I would like to thank Professor Sorell. I especially thank those persons at the Wight Gallery who have created the CARA exhibit. They have given of their time and assisted with ideas and details of this exhibit and have reviewed the catalog. Those persons are:
Edith A. Tonelli, director; Elizabeth Shepherd, curator; and Holly Barnet Sanchez and Marcos Sanchez-Tranquilino, CARA project coordinators. Any errors remain my own.
James Davis and Lilace Hatayama have advised in all details of the exhibit. Simon
Elliott arranged for reproductions for the catalog. Steve Kunishima and Ellen Watanabe printed the signs and posters. Paul G. Naiditch assisted in the editing and publication of the catalog. Judy Hale and Christopher Coniglio in UCLA Publication Services produced the catalog. The department thanks UCLA Chancellor Charles E. Young for his continued support of its publications.
I would like to dedicate the work on this exhibit and the catalog to Onofre di Stefano, whose interest in these topics has long spurred my own.
VI THE PACHUCO ERA
INTRODUCTION
The mission statement o{ Chicano Art: Resistance and Affirmation (CARA), 1965-1985 reads:
Chicano art is the modern, ongoing expression of the long-term cultural, economic and
political struggle of the Mexicano People within the United States. It is an affirmation of
the complex identity and vitality of the Chicano People. Chicano art arises from and is
shaped by our experience in the Americas.
The Pachuco Era focuses primarily on situations and events beginning in the late 1930s and culminating in the early 1940s, but with continuity and extension into the present.
The exhibit relates Chicano artists' concerns and even inspiration to Chicano social history and the literature and art of el Movimiento, the Chicano movement. Examples of CARA themes pertinent to this exhibit are:
CIVIL LIBERTIES
Works of art dealing with issues of resistance to immigration policy, the Vietnam War,
police relations, voters' rights, etc. URBAN IMAGES
Most Chicano art was created in and about the urban barrios or neighborhoods. Portraits of barrio residents and stylized "types" became important subject matter. Variations on the
character of the pachuco in the familiar "zoot suit," a social prototype of Chicano resistance,
were documented and transformed by artists, writers, and performers. This section is devoted
to a presentation and examination of this imagery.
These and other themes are fully developed in publications meshed with CARA. Terms alluded to—or given brief definitions—in The Pachuco Era are fully defined and given full context in CARA publications. The Pachuco Era gives brief contexts for further study through a display of material difficult to obtain or unique to the UCLA Library.
Vll THE PACHUCO ERA
I ' I I ^_^ J I I _ I I I I I ' msniii im
Los Angeles Daily News photograph. 1942. A report to a 1942 Los Angeles Grand Jury implied that Mexicans were like "wildcats." This supported the assumption that if a pachuco were detained, it would be "useless to turn him loose without having served a sentence." The wildcat "must be caged to be kept in captivity." This photograph shows one technique of labeling the pachucos as "hoodlums." The bars of a jail imply guilt.
Actually, the pachucos show a sense of style in their resistant stance. THE PACHUCO ERA
"THOSE TIMES OF THE 1. LA FIESTA DE LOS ANGELES FORTIES AND EARLY FIFTIES" Carey McWilliams wrote that "Los An-
During this period the Andrews Sisters geles has not grown; it has been conjured recorded "Zoot Suit," with its jitterbug into existence." This was done largely rhymes: reet pleat, stuff cuff, and drape through booster activities of the Los An- shape. From the beginning the zoot suit geles Chamber of Qjmmerce, founded in fashion was reported negatively. In 1942 1888. La Fiesta de Los Angeles was first
Newsweek wrote that Harlem was the presented in 1894. The program for 1895 "breeding ground" where "the disease ap- announced the theme: "the achievements peared." Young Mexican Americans of the Spanish pioneers, ... the striking adopted the style, which they referred to customs and life of the strange races which as being "draped out." They maintained they a)nquered, to be contrasted with the the style longer than did others. They march of American civilization." The word added distinctive speech, body movement, "Mexican," which by this time had negative and body adornment. These young persons connotations such as "untrustworthy" or were known as pachucos, the style having even "criminally-oriented," is suppre.s.sed. originated in El Paso, which is called "Pioneers" is a concept with which Anglo-
Chuco in the patois they used. Americans could identify, subtly tied to the "Sleepy Lagoon" was another popular latter part of the quotation, which restates song of this big band era and was recorded Manifest Destiny, the philosophy which by Harry James, among others. A rippling had led to the war with Mexico in 1846. piano and a gliding trumpet suggest a boat Among the projected floats was "An on dreamy waters. Violins add the Aztec Sacrifice." Although such a float was
romance of a motion picture score. The probably not built, its description provides
reality for young Mexican Americans, who an example of how a negative stereotype
in this period suffered discrimination even of Mexicans had taken hold in the Anglo-
in recreation, was a swimming hole nick- American imagination.
named Sleepy Lagoon in an abandoned For the 150th birthday fiesta in 1931,
gravel pit in Montebello. "Mexican" was still avoided. Events were
A death at Sleepy Lagoon in 1942 put "Spanish barbecues" and "gay Spanish fan-
the Mexican American community on trial. dangos." In this Depression year, alien Riots the next year put the community workers were seen as threats to employ- under attack. Because the pachucos main- ment. There was a national deportation
tained their style in the face of disapproval effort. Those most affected were from both the dominant society and their Mexicans. A Los Angeles Chamber of Mexican parents, they have been seen as Commerce memo shows that even
the first Chicanos. The history and imagery Mexican American citizens were en-
of the pachuco era, a time of social resis- couraged to leave. Newspapers stressed
tance, were significant elements Chicanos violence in the Mexican community, per- recovered to identify, develop, and haps to gain sympathy for repatriation and
celebrate their heritage. deportation policies. THE PACHUCO ERA
Artist unknown. An Aztec Sacrifice. Illustration from La Fiesta de Los Angeles program for 1895. Nineteen floats were to represent themes in the history of the Spanish conquest and of the west: Birth of the Inca, Siege of Mexico, The Missions, Old Spanish Life, and
Sutter's Mill, for example. From the lengthy description of An Aztec Sacrifice: "Nothing could be more dreadful than the extent to which human sacrifice entered into the religious observances of the Aztecs before their conquest by the Spanish pioneers." THE PACHUCO ERA
2. HAIR STYLES USED IN The press reported ihe zool suit style as IDENTIFICATION OF HOODLUMS "comical." Young men wore their grena (hair) in a ducktail. Newspapers called this
The zoot suit style consisted of llnger- the "Argentine Dovetail" and found it "ap- tip-lenglh, wide-lapel coats and draped propriately funny" for the pachuco style. trousers that ballooned at the knees and Beginning in June and July of 1942, narrowed tightly at the ankles. Cab Cal- newspapers stressed violence in Mexican loway called the haLs (usually pork-pie) worn American neighborhoods. The pachuco with zoot suits "righteous sky bonnets." style was termed "grotesque." In the next The pachucos' distinct speech derived few years newspaper accounts labeled from Cald, the argot of Spanish gypsies, youth groups gangs and sensationalized believed to have been brought to Mexico their actions: "young hoodlums smoke by bullfighters. The border city of El Paso, 'reefers,' tattoo girls, and plot robberies." known as Chuco, or Pachuco, gave its Pachucos were arrested on suspicion name to both the argot and the group of only, from hearsay evidence. Charges persons speaking it. Young men hitching might later be dropped, but this was not rides on the railroads during the Depres- reported. Arrests remained on their sion brought the style to Los Angeles. records. They were often beaten by the Pachuco mixes Mexican slang. New police. If relatives came to inquire, they Mexican Spanish (which did not change, as were detained and questioned. The did continental Spanish), words borrowed pachuco style was proof of guilt and sen- from the Aztec Nahuatl, English words tences were meted out accordingly: Hispanicized, and Spanish words Anglicized. "Youths get hair cut to avoid jail term."
Pachuco is rich in words of emphasis: simdn
(yes; made by extending si), ese (man), nel 3. "AND I THINK IT WAS A KNIFE"
(no), chak (no, with emphasis). Some ex- pressions are unique to pachuco: orale (right In August of 1942 the unconscious body
on). Hay te watcho Hispanicizcs the English of Jose Dfaz, twenty-two, was found near
I'll be seeing you, catch you later. Sleepy Lagoon. He died before regaining The pachucos had distinctive body consciousness. The circumstances around adornment (crosses with rays tattooed be- his death have never been determined. tween thumb and forefinger, for example) Henry Leyvas, nineteen, had been beaten and body movement. In "El Paso del up and when he and some of his friends Norte" John Rechy described their style later crashed a nearby party, they were of movement: "They walked cool, long accused of having murdered Diaz. graceful bad strides, rhythmic as hell, Twenty-four young men, including hands deep into pockets, shoulders Leyvas, were indicted on conspiracy to hunched." He adds: "Much heart." This commit murder. Several testified that they translates the concept of corazon or cora. had been beaten by the police in attempts
It is one of many words of binding Mexican to obtain confessions. The lawyer for American social mores, such as carnal Leyvas witnessed "his bruised face, bleed- (brother), or camalismo (brotherhood). ing mouth, [and] saw him vomit from blows THE PACHUCO ERA
Los Angeles Daily News photograph. 1942. Harsh photographs of the Sleepy Lagoon defendants taken under jail circumstances contributed to the effect of their being guilty before the trial. Henry Leyvas's smiling face transcends the circumstances of this portrait.
A letter to Alice McGrath shows his later doubt: "I had rosy expectations ... [but] it seems like the whole world just folded up on me, and there is nothing I can do about it." THE PACHUCO ERA to Ihc stomach." Two defendants re- mimeographed newsletter. Appeal News, quested separate trial and were never to send to the young men in prison. Her tried. Twenty-two were tried as one. strategy was to nurture their awareness:
Two weeks after the indictment a report "It is the most essential thing in your life on Mexican Americans was read to the to make a definite effort to have an out-
Grand Jury, and would have been known standing record." She tapped the force of to the trial jury. This stated that Mexicans their self-expre.ssion: "To quote your let- are descendants of the Aztecs, who had "a ters and what you have told me in my visits total disregard for human life, ... which is to you is the very best [strategy].... It is well known to everyone." Mexicans are very much to your benefit to be quoted." biologically violent. Americans fight clean Ben Margolis argued the brief in the fights, but Mexicans like to use knives. appellate court, from ground carefully laid
They have a desire "to kill, or at least let during the trial by George Shiblcy, one of blood." The research for this report seems the defense attorneys. The appeal was suc- to have been done in a publication such cessful. October 4, 1944 Alice McGrath as the La Fiesta de Los Angeles brochure. wired Leyvas: "Decision reversed. Victory.
An article in Sensation magazine called the Will wire further details when we have defendants "baby gangsters." The writer them. Oh what a beautiful morning." Her drew attention to their "jet-black hair" and notes on the activities of the day of the "black brows," emphasizing their non- release of the young men indicate that western European "foreignness" and gave Leyvas was not given the telegram until a them qualities of motion picture villains. week after it was sent.
At the beginning of the trial, the defen- dants were not allowed to cut their hair or 4. "THEY STRIPPED ME, CARNAL" change clothing. Newspapers called them "'gooners," then simply "goons." Tes- During the summer of 1943 there were timony was volatile, not factual. When one race riots in several large cities of the United witness spoke about Leyvas, she said that States. In Detroit in August, thirty-four were
"I saw something in his hand, ... and I think killed in violence between Whites and it was a knife." Blacks. In Los Angeles there had been a
The prosecution produced none of the riot in June, usually called the Zoot Suit weapons they charged the defendants with Riots, which lasted ten days. No one was having used. Despite the fact that no critically injured. evidence presented put any of the defen- The riots are more accurately termed dants near Diaz, three were convicted of Servicemen's Riots, since groups of U. S. murder in the first degree. Others received military got into taxis and went into lesser verdicts. Five were acquitted. Mexican American neighborhoods looking
The Sleepy Lagoon Defense Commit- for "zoot suiters." They entered homes tee, organized to raise money for an ap- and motion picture houses. They beat up peal, was chaired by Carey McWilliams. young men, stripped them of their zoot
Alice Greenfield (later McGrath) was the suits and other clothing, and cut their hair. executive secretary. She published a Police stood by, or arrested the pachucos. THE PACHUCO ERA
f erfiMM Sleepy Lagoon Defense Committee Cabby MtWiLUAMi, Ndlieiui CbMrma* y HaUY BkAVIIMAN, ROOM 302 — 129 WEST 2nd STREET LOS ANCtLfcS 12, CAUFORNIA •/:r MUTUAL 4964 5/41/ Ctairman
AUCM Ckeenfieu) Ejittmtirt S ternary SPONSORS (Paitial List. Otganiutions luted (or idcntiBcAtioc) oolr.)
Chablotta a. B.\m. Ed'ifr. Cil>f. Eigle Geitbude Hove BRinor* OfgaMntt, Mtxicsn Rtiaiiuti Cammilitt, Cbicgo. Iliin.r
Esv. M. A, Canseco. D.D.
RevtLs Cavton, DiTtcior Si*it CIO Minattiw Commitut Hon. John M. Coffu
John Cohbb. Ptet'dtat. L^. Ntwj^prt CmiU OOBOTKY COWINCOIE. Srmn Arum Ct'l-i Phiup M. Connelly. Sttj. L^. Imd. V»iea Coanal Jo»rH CorrtN
Dk. Fxank Davis. frtfntof. V.C.L^. John Wauen Day. Dm*. (irtct (UlhtJral. Topttm. Kan
Alaebt Deutscm. Vtlfart BJu^r. P.M.
Lua DiAZ Flobbs Gt»tT*l Maa^itr La Opmioa HSBBEBT GaNAML '' Ut^trt" GmiU
SsTA Haywokth
Di. Hamy Hoijeb, /"rc/cdw U C.L.A. John Howard Lawson
Canaim l£t
Mom. Vrro Mabcantonio. ComtT/iimsM
Prop. F. C. Matthiessbn. Harrird Uniftriiiy
Gamiel Navmbo. Unor. El Pueblo
J. David Obozco Michael Qlill,
Ntw y«r> City
Mrs. ^ill Rocera. Jr.
Rev. Clayton D. Rl'Uell. Ff«pWi IndrprnJenl Ctmnh «/ Chf.ii
Dm. Camilo StaviN
Herman Shi mun
Ferdinand C. Suftm. Nstiaitsl Sttrtlarj Ssiioiui MMtUmt Union if Am
HtiBERT K. Sorrel. C»m!trt»(t •/ StMdio Umm$ Dalton Trl'MBO Orson Welles
Drawing of a zoot suit by Sleepy Lagoon defendant Manuel Delgado. The letterhead shows the diverse communities involved in the appeal, including professors from UCLA. THE PACHUCO ERA
These charged symbolic events have employment, denial of work or more been made the center ol many creative menial work or work for less wages. interpretations. The Chilean writer, Fer- El Movimiento, the Chicano movement, nando Alegn'a, used the stark facts above, began with the strikes of Cesar Chavez in in his story published in Mexico, "^A que 1965. Chicano literature and art supported lado de la cortina?" |"On Which Side of this social action. Luis Valdez wrote aclos the Curtain?"). As a young Mexican (short skits) in support of the strikes.
American watches a movie with his date Chavez and his brother Manuel invented in downtown Los Angeles, he realizes that the emblem of a black eagle on a red and the American dream depicted on the white background to make their cause screen has nothing to do with the life he more effective. leads. He hears a great roar. It is the El Movimiento issued planes (manifes- servicemen out to get the zoot suiters. He tos) in support of political action and is hit and blood flows onto his light-colored educational reform. Political platforms in- jacket. He is separated from his date by cluded seeking recovery of lands from the crowd. He is stripped naked, put into which Mexican Americans were displaced, a paddy wagon, and sent to jail. A red- following the 1848 treaty with Mexico. El haired sailor takes advantage of a free seat plan de Santa Barbara adopted the self- and watches the end of the movie. His seat designating "Chicano"—used by pachucos, is that of the young pachuco. He has dis- but a word with previously negative con- placed the Mexican American. notations—as "the root idea of a new cul- tural identity." The Aztec origin of the
5. RESISTANCE AND AFHRMATION word positively asserts the Chicano heritage. The plan again reversed negative Early interpretations of the pachucos imagery and supported the barrios and stated the sociological facts of the dis- colonias—Chicano urban and rural com- crimination which oppressed the pachucos munitie.s—in that "man is never closer lo and related these facts to Mexican his true self as when he is close lo his Americans in general. Louis Adamic community." founded the journal Common Ground in Chicano art, then, is not only personal
1940 "to invite diversity" and "produce statement, but also an alliance: to family, unity." Contributors included Langston to urban youth, workers, farmworkers, and
Hughes, Carey McWilliams, and William protesters. It rejects European sources, is
Saroyan. Beatrice Griffith published short politically motivated, and concerned with essays on the pachucos, later gathered with educating a broad community of interests, sketches (some about the riots) in rather than appealing to a select few used
Ameiican Me. In 1943 George I. Sanchez to mu.seums controlled by the dominant
published "Pachucos in the Making." He majority and the commercial spaces of gal-
delineated the ethnic prejudice of the era: leries. It is a public art and, as often as
in education, separate and inferior schools; possible, done by or with the community.
in religion, separate services; in recreation, Centros (centers, workshops) such as Self-
separate facilities or denial of facilities; in Help Graphics and Art in East Los Angeles )
THE PACHUCO ERA
11-47
JOEY Punk? Que estas, lucas? (Pushes him back) You're drunk, esc. Uicn pcdo. RUDY I'll show you who's bien pedoi
(RUDY jumps on JOEY and they fight) HENRY comes running, and the others leap in to try to stop it. )
HENRY Controlatela, carnal: You gone crazy?
( JOEY Get him away from me, ese. I'll l;ill himi I'll kill him:
(THE BATOS and Bucas take out JOEY. HENRY pacifies RUDY who bursts out crying. ENRIQUE.*!^ DOLORES, ALICE, LUPE and GEORGE are the only ones left)
SUDY (Tn a flush of emotion) Cabrones, se araontonaron. They ganged up on me, carnal. You left me and they ganged up on me. You shouldn't have done it, carnal. Why did you have to tell XMiSM everybody not to say nothing? I.XMXKXHiiX^BBX What good was it to say I wasn't there? I was there. I was at the Sleepy Lagoon. Yo tambien tire chingazos con todoa. Why didn't you want me involved, carnal. For the jefitos? The jefitos lost KM me anyway, KliMK carnal. I joiiied tne Marines. I didn't have to join but I vjent. Sabes porque? Because they got me, carnal. Me chingaron, ece. (Sobs) I wont to the pinche show with Bertha, all chingon n your Xifil tacuche, ese. 1 uas wearing your y.oot suit, tind they
(HEIIRY goes to RUDY and embraces him with fierce love and desperation.) Pause.
Luis Valdez. Zoot Suit. 1978. Page from typescript (photocopy?). — —
THE PACHUCO ERA are a strong part of el Movimiento. The "an actor in—the streets" and his invitation Chicano philosophy led lo the use of art to perform "put on a zoot suit and play visible to the barrios in the form of murals the myth"—allies him to more recent ap- or art available widely and inexpensively: proaches. In Zoot Suit the dramatist used posters and other graphic art. aspects of lives like that of Henry Leyvas
Mexican poet Octavio Paz had been in to reverse with dazzling scenes of his own
Los Angeles briefly in the pachuco era. the negative imagery presented by the
He began his inlluential work, El laherinto press in the 194()s. Valdez used all the de la soledad [The Labyrinth of SolitudeJ, elements of the theater—story, scenery, with an essay on the pachucos. He applied costume, music, and dance—to restore the the then-current existential philosophy to style of the pachucos. Songs written by this lifestyle. At the beginning of the Eduardo "Lalo" Guerrero in the 194()s
Movimiento Chicano anthropologist Oc- were included in both the theater and tavio Romano asserted that the pachucos motion picture productions. (Guerrero's were the first separatists and termed their pachuco songs have been considered youthful activities a movement which was forerunners of bilingual Chicano poetry.) existential. Ignacio Gomez created a striking poster
Poets such as Jose Montoya and Tino (in CARA) illustrating El Pachuco, played
Villanueva followed—c^r concurred with by Edward James Olmos with authentic this interpretation. Villanueva's "Pachuco gestures from the period, as coached by
Remembered" begins with a startling call Sleepy Lagoon defendant Jose "Chcpe" to attention "jEse!"—and then speaks of Ruiz. When the actor models his zoot suit the pachucos' "will-to-be culture" and "es- and says "Watche mi tacuche, ese"— thetics existential." The poet allies himself "Check out my zoot suit, man"—he is lit with Romano also in the fact that he makes not by a newsman's stark flash, but by the pachucos the first protesters, resisting the full art of theater lighting. the criticism of Anglo-American teachers:
"Speak English damn it!" / "Button up your 6. "LIKE TODAY shirt!" / "When did you last get a haircut?" I'M WEARING GRAY" In time, the interpretation by Paz was seen to be lacking in the perception that Con Safos was an early Chicano journal, the pachucos created a culture of their published in Los Angeles, 1968-197L It own. With tools of new critical theory, sought to express "the entire spectrum of approaches argue that the elements of the feelings that are the soul of the barrio." In pachuco style — language, dress, and a short fiction, "Passing Time," J. L. music—were strategies to resist assimila- Navarro's protagonist walks through the
tion by the dominant society, a resistance barrio, notes its low income untidiness, yet, which was a tenet of Chicanismo, the after pa.ssing "Juan's store and Oscar's
philosophy which developed from the store, and then Manuel's store," which he
Chicano civil rights movement. finds "dingy looking," the sensations of the
Luis Valdez proceeds from an existential barrio's "sights and pleasant weather, ... its
reading, but his defining the pachuco as silent pride, ... its genuine wholesomeness" —
THE PACHUCO ERA
confirm his perception that "all the com- turn, khaki (and other color) work pants ponents of this day were just right." were substituted. An element of the
Con Safos contained glossaries of barrio pachuco style remained in the cinching language, which had been neglected since tight of an oversize waist (instead of the pachuco era, and was recovered as a pleats). A white tee-shirt is worn, or a literary code connecting generations of white sleeveless athletic shirt. An overshirt
Chicanos. The journal took its name from similar to a Pendleton plaid might be worn an element of the placa (graffiti), which or carried folded in a stylized manner. can include name or nickname (Lefty, Highly polished shoes and a web belt con-
Snake, L'il Man), barrio (White Fence, tinue both the pachuco and military styles. VNE—for Varrio Nuevo Estrada), state- After the Chavez strikes, cotton ban- ment of power (Rifamos—^we rule), and danas were worn in wide folds as head- finish with C/S (con safos), meaning, brief- bands. "Like today I'm wearing gray ly, don't touch or deface. pants," one vato noted, so he chose a black Mexican fine art—that of the muralists, bandana. A 1940s hat might be worn over for example—influenced Chicano art. the bandana. Navarro made positive the Popular art was seen to be as important. imagery that had made the Sleepy Lagoon
The art of Mexican almanaques (calen- defendants seem criminal. In his poem "To dars) restored the image of the Aztec as a Dead Lowrider," the protagonist is a proud warrior. The calavera (skull) im- "Chicano all the way": "for a crown he had agery of Jose Guadalupe Posada added rich / black hair that shimmered with / bite and playfulness. Gilbert (Magu) Three Roses." The use of hairnets con-
Sanchez Lujan—among many artists in this tinues the generally sleek and low style. fertile period—wrote in Con Safos of the In Con Safos there were depictions of varied barrio roots Chicano art should la vida loca, the crazy life of the vatos seek: "sculptured ranflas [lowrider cars], locos. Navarro dramatized moments when the calligraphy of wall writings (graffiti), the effects of drugs or alcohol, acting on the gardens of our abuelos [grandparents] suppressed anger, transform the tension or
... vato loco [crazy dude] portraits ...." bravado of banal situations and exchanges
Con Safos wished to include the "loose- into violence, usually vato against vato. ness of the cholo." There is some con- Methods of turning young men from this tinuity between the pachucos and the vatos violence have included art projects com- locos, or cholos. Although cholo can be mitted to changing the community and its defined neutrally, as an urban youth, it lives. Ghosts of the Barrio, a mural by more often refers to a gang member. Wayne AJaniz Healy, shows homeboys with
When this style is adopted, it is called three of their pride-instilling antecedents: similar to "draped out"—"choloed out." Aztec warrior, Spanish conquistador, and
The pachuco style depended on expensive Mexican revolutionary. Charles "Cat" and at times tailor-made clothing. Newer Felix encouraged gang members to turn styles used readily—and continually—avail- the tough energy of their young years (fif- able items in distinctive combinations. Army teen to seventeen) into murals at the surplus khakis replaced the zoot suit. In Estrada Courts, where eighty-five were
10 THE PACHUCO ERA
John M. Valadez. Clavo. 1978. Color photograph.
11 THE PACHUCO ERA
>0 t% 9^ V—•>
» ;
m >K[^K >TR&&T DUR^^LV&> WILL H&V&ft Vn.1 W Juan R. Fuentes. "C/zo/o, L/V(?." 1981. OITsct lithograph. In CARA. Yl — THE PACHUCO ERA painted, using images from the placas as 7. 6RALE, HAY TI-: WATCHO well as banderols and other visual im- agery of tattoos. Jose Montoya's poem "El Louie" is an Juan R. Fuentes's lithograph (from a elegy for "«« valo de alolle" (a great dude), San Francisco cenlro. La Raza Graphic a pachua) of the colonias of central Califor- Center) uses the eye-catching style of a nia in "those times of the forties and early concert poster. Its imagery records the fifties." Montoya preserves the rasquachi finne (tough, bonded) cholo presence. The (playful, mocking) qualities of the title is ambiguous: these young men could pachucos, in his portrait of Louie and in be musicians, in a "live" appearance; at the his own lluid drawings (in CARA). Louie same time it is a directive to remain alive. gave a sense of style to the colonias far The work exhorts the vatos to change and from "Los" or "E.P.T.": "48 Fleetline, two- inscribes its message in a barrio calligraphy. tone ... tailor-made drapes, el boogie." Fucntes seeks freedom from an oppres- Louie's death was a loss for the "baby sion that, although identified decades ago, chukes" who looked up to him. The pt^em has changed little since the pachuco era: saves the pachuco spirit for the community. low income, fragile sense of identity, Recent interpretations of the pachucos broken homes, life lived in the street, con- have stressed their style's performance flict with dominant authority. quality, caught by Montoya when describ- The tension of balancing these factors ing his character "who dug roles, man, like to maintain the control that is the cholo blackie, little Louie." Aspects of this style front is revealed in the photograph, Clavo, have been carried forward. A photograph by John M. Valadez. The artist, who grew by Jose Galvez is a reminder that there is up near Estrada Courts, has also used im- a backstage with preparation and rehears- ages of pachucos—for "the beauty of a al. The style put forth must be constructed. people we have been told are not beauti- Gus Frias has written of ironing his tec- ful"—in his realist paintings and pastels. shirt and slacks; and standing in the mirror Police relations have not changed and to practice his looks and his barrio walk patterns of injustice still oppress as they before his first day at high school. had in the days of Sleepy Lagoon. To live The Galvez photograph also expresses in the barrio invites police scrutiny. cainalismo, a bond shared and passed from Habitual offenders are defined by the one to another— like the baby chukes number of arrests, not convictions, thus receiving inspiration from El Louie. Mon- labeling young men early. California in- toya was baby chuke to the real person carcerates ten times more juveniles than about whom the poem was structured. does New York. Eighty per cent of new Montoya the creator and educator is El inmates are Black or Chicano. In Louie carnal—to a generation he, Navarro's "Toonerville," a character af- among many committed Chicano creators firms his long-suppressed identity under in the carefully constructed arts and litera- the worst of circumstances, police harass- ture of el Movimiento, has influenced. The ment: "Every time they beat him he cried knot is tied on the bandana for succeeding out: I'm a Mexican. I'M A MEXICAN." generations. 13 THE PACHUCO ERA GLOSSARY McWilliams, Carey. North from Mexico; The Spanish-Speaking People of the United Barrio - Chicano neighborhood States. Philadelphia, 1949 [cl948]. Carnal I camalismo - Brother / brother- Mazon, Mauricio. The Zoot-Suit Riots: hood, bonding The Psychology of Symbolic Annihilation. Colonia - Rural Chicano community Austin, 1984. Con safes (els) - Don't deface Meier, Matt S., and Feliciano Rivera. Corazon (cora) - Heart Dictionary of Mexican American History. Chingazos - Blows, fighting Westport, Conn., 1981. Firme - Tough, together, bonded Moore, Joan W, et al. Homeboys: Gangs, Greha - Hair Drugs, and Prison in the Barrios of Los An- Hay te watcho - I'll catch you later geles. Philadelphia, 1978. Homeboy I homey I homes - Chicano Paredes, Raymund. "The Origins of Anti- pinto (prisoner) term for neighborhood Mexican Sentiment in the United States." friend. In: New Directions in Chicano Scholarship. Orale -Yes, right on Santa Barbara, 1984, cl977. Placas - Tags Paz, Octavio. El laberinto de la soledad. Rasquachi - Earthy, lower class Mexico, 1950 [cl947]. Tr. New York, 1962. Simon, ese - Yes, man Plascencia, Luis F. B. "Low Riding in Tacuche - Zoot suit. the Southwest: ..." In: History, Culture, This is an example of an adaption from N^huatl. and Society: Chicano Studies in the 1980s. Vato I vato loco - Dude / crazy dude Ypsilanti, Mich. [1983] La vida loca - The crazy life Romotsky, Jerry, and Sally R. Romotsky. Los Angeles Barrio Calligraphy. Los An- REFERENCES / READINGS geles, 1976. Sanchez, Rosaura. Chicano Discourse: Barker, George Carpenter. Pachuco: An Socio-historic Perspectives. Rowley, Mass., American-Spanish Argot and Its Social 1983. Functions in Tucson, Arizona. Tucson Sanchez-Tranquilino, Marcos. "Mano a [1958, C1950]. mano: An Essay on the Representation of Bruce-Novoa. Chicano Poetry: A the Zoot Suit and Its Misrepresentation by Response to Chaos. Austin, 1982. Octavio Paz." Journal - Tlie Los Angeles Con Safos. Reflections of Life in the Bar- Institute of Contemporary Art, 46 (1987 rio. Los Angeles, 1968-1971. Winter). Frias, Gus. Barrio Warriors: Homeboys of Steiner, Stan, and Luis Valdez. Aztldn: Peace. Los Angeles? 1982. An Anthology of Mexican American Litera- Griffith, Beatrice. American Me. Boston, ture [New York, 1972]. 1948. Valdez, Luis. Zoot Suit. 1978. Un- Hoffman, Abraham. Unwanted Mexican published. In Special Collections. Americans in the Great Depression: Vigil, James Diego. Barrio Gangs: Street Repatriation Pressures, 1929-1939. Tucson Life and Identity in Southern California. [1974]. Austin, 1988. 14 THE PACHUCO ERA Jose Galvez. Untitled (Homeboys). 1983. Black and white photograph. In CAR4 15 This Catalog was set in 11 pt. Times Roman using Xerox Ventura Publisher. It was offset by UCLA Publication Services and produced in an edition of six hundred copies.